Evaluation of leucaena diversifolia as dry season feed supplement for lactating dairy cattle
| dc.contributor.author | Mwakilembe, Pilika Andrew | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-05-22T10:48:42Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-05-22T10:48:42Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2004 | |
| dc.description | PhD-Thesis | |
| dc.description.abstract | A series of four experiments were conducted in sequel to evaluate the merits of Leucaena diversifolia as a dry season Iced supplement for lactating dairy cows in Mbeya region. In experiment 1, the biomass yield of Leucaena diversifolia was evaluated from 7 500 seedlings established on 1.45 ha of land at ARI-UYOLE. Parameters recorded were length of the tree (LOT), number of branches (NOB) and length of the longest branch (LOLB). Experiment 2 was a rumen metabolism study whereby botanical fractions from bean straw and maize stover were evaluated for degradability characteristics and in vitro dry matter digestibility (1VDMD) using Friesian-Boran cattle. Experiment 3 was a feeding trial in which four non-pregnant lactating Friesian cows were offered, 15, 20, 25 and 30 % of Leucaena diversifolia as a supplement in a change over arrangement to assess the effects of incremental levels of Leucaena diversifolia inclusion on in vivo digestibility of maize stover and bean straw diets. In experiment 4, eighteen lactating Friesian cows divided into three treatment groups of six cows each were used to evaluate the effects of increasing rates of offer on feed selectivity, intake and milk yield. Leucaena diversifolia was offered as a supplement to nine cows but was not given to the other nine using maize stover and bean straw basal diets. The results showed that 74.04 % of the total variability in edible material yield for Leucaena diversifolia trees was accounted for by variation in length of the tree (LOT), number of branches (NOB) and length of the longest branch (LOLB). Yields for edible material and wood in a primary cut stood at 3.5 and 10.1 tons DM/ ha, respectively. The dry matter (DM) potential fermentable contents in maize stover botanical fractions varied significantly (p<0.001) and were 814.1, 754.5, 666.5, 644.6, 622.5 and 572.8 g/kg for maize stover sheath (MS5)>maize stover leaves (MS3)> whole plant maize stover (MS1)> maize stover ear (MS4)> maize stover r-’alk (MS2)> and maize stover t-Gsels (MS6), respectively. The corresponding ranking for bean straw botanical fractions were 826.1, 626.5 and 425.4 g/kg DM for bean straw pods .'BSD2)> whole plant bean straw (WBS3)> and bean straw stem (BSS1), respectively. Dry matter degradability (48 hr incubation) of | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | TARP II-SUA | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/6127 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Sokoine University of Agriculture | |
| dc.subject | Leucaena diversifolia | |
| dc.subject | Dry season | |
| dc.subject | Dairy cattle | |
| dc.title | Evaluation of leucaena diversifolia as dry season feed supplement for lactating dairy cattle | |
| dc.type | Thesis |